Thursday, March 17, 2005
Shodokan Drills
Nariyama Sensei takes his drills very seriously. They are done regularly and without fail at the beginning of each practice, and also sometimes at the end of each practice. In addition, at random times during practice, everything is stopped to do a few rounds of the Nanahon Nage Kuzushi Waza.
Let me explain the drills in the order they are typically done at the beginning of class.
Tegatana Awase
Here, both people stand in matching stances (both people standing right-foot forward, for instance.) They then raise tegatana arms to match (right arm if the right foot is forward.) They touch tegatana blades, and then move smoothly around the dojo, using good sliding feet footwork, making sure to keep the same foot always forward, and never bending their tegatana arms. The whole point of the drill is to maintain proper distance as you move together.
Make sure you switch, and do a round both with the left leg and hand forward as well as the right leg and hand forward.
A variation of this drill is to do it without the arms. You start off touching arms to get the distance right, but then lower your arms and then move around, staying square to each other, and at proper distance.
Tegatana Bogyo
Bogyo means defense. In this drill, the two partners take turns being attacker and defender. They start as in tegatana awase and move around smoothly, but then one of them (pre-designated as the attacker) either raises the opposite arm to begin a strike or raises a leg to begin a kick. Since it is a drill, you don’t finish the strikes or kicks. Please note that it is the opposite arm that goes to strike. That is, if you are doing the tegatana awase with your right arm forward and touching your partner’s right arm, you will raise your left arm as if to strike.
For the person defending, as soon as he senses a strike coming, he pushes in with his stiff tegatana arm right towards the attacker’s throat. To aid in the drill, the attacker allows his tegatana arm to collapse at the elbow so that his own tegatana hand gets squished between own his throat (or upper chest) and the defender’s tegatana arm, which is of course pushing in at his throat. The point of the drill is to move in quickly and push the attacker off balance. It is, foremost, a timing drill, to teach you to react immediately when attacked. It also teaches you that the best first thing to do when attacked is to break your opponent’s balance.
As you do the drill, each person should make three attacks before switching attacker and defender. This is a nice alternation scheme, since you don’t spend too much time as either attacker or defender and you learn to move smoothly and be alert equally well in either role. Make sure you do both left and right sides.
Gassho no Bogyo
This drill is also sometimes called Gassho no renshu. A gassho is a pray position, with the palms pressed together. In this drill, you again work on your timing and moving smoothly and quickly when attacked. Here, the pre-designated attacker either goes for an overhead temple strike to the head (migi men or hidari men), or raises a knee as if to begin a kick.
If an overhead strike is initiated, the defender moves forward smoothly and raises up his tegatana arms in a gassho position, putting them hands right up near the attacker’s face. This will block the strike and get you used to moving towards an attacker—as paradoxically this is often the safest place to be.
If the attacker raises up a knee as if to strike, the defender blocks it by moving smoothly forward and putting out both tegatana to block the leg on the thigh, just above the knee. The key point here is to keep your back vertical and also to keep looking at the attacker’s face. Do not look at the leg! You should also end up pretty low, as to block properly, you have to extend a leg forward. This will naturally lower your center.
As you do this drill, you and the other person should be circling each other. This makes it much more natural, and well as much more challenging. The attacker should feel free to attack either right or left handed or right or left footed, alternating at will. Mixing it up this way makes it much more realistic for the defender.
Ippon no Bogyo
Ippon means one long cylindrical thing. In this case it refers to one arm. So this drill is the one-armed defense drill.
It is essentially the same as Gassho no Bogyo from the perspective of the person attacking. He or she either goes for hidari men or migi men (overhead temple strikes with the tegatana blade) or raises a knee up as if to go for a front snap kick.
As for the defender, he is now only allowed to block with one arm. For overhead strikes, he should meet them blade to blade, by which I mean that the blade side of his blocking tegatana arm (the pinkie finger side) should clash up against the blade side of the attacking tegatana arm. Also, he should move his whole body so that at the moment of contact, this blocking arm is right on his own center line. Between each block, the arms return to dangle loosely at the side. You should also be relaxed and well balanced as you await the next strike.
Now, if a kick comes, you have to again block it—but with only one tegatana blade this time (unlike in gassho no bogyo, where you blocked using both arms simultaneously). Block with the shote (base of the hand), with the thumb rotated so that it points back towards you. (The arm is extended as you block; it is still a tegatana.) You do not want to bock with the thumb side as you’ll quickly end up spraining or breaking a thumb. As with blocking kicks in Gassho no bogyo, keep your back straight and keep looking at the attacker’s eyes.
Circle each other as you do the drill.
Shote Awase
This is the drill where you push on each other using fully extended tegatana arms. I won’t describe it at much length as I’m sure you’ve done it before if you do Tomiki aikido. My only point will be to say that you shouldn’t be doing it very hard and that uke (the person being pushed backwards) should not fight the other person very hard. The uke should help by keeping both of their pushing hands in their mutual center and should give way reasonably, only mildly challenging the pusher. This allows the pusher to work on subtle balance breaking skills.
Ushio Kara Ryote Dori no Bogyo
This is the double handed wrist grab from behind drill, where uke grabs one of tori’s wrists using both of his own hands. The point is to grab and then push up and forward to break tori’s balance. Since you’ve probably already done this drill as well, I will only add that uke should definitely try to lift the arm, and that tori should get very good at suddenly dropping his weigh to break uke’s balance.
At Shodokan, they also start with the hand about six inches behind the buttocks, and the hand balled up into a fist. At the moment that uke grabs, you extend your fingers, form a tegatana, and drop your weight. Starting in a fist and then extending to a tegatana gets you in the habit of instantly going to tegatana no matter what position your hands are normally in. Put differently, you wouldn’t normally have your arm in a tegatana when grabbed. So this makes you practice having to initiate a tegatana immediately after being attacked.
Nana hon Nage Kuzushi Waza
These are the Seven Basic balance breaking drills. With ura (reverse) versions, there are 14 total. At Shodokan, they practice a set of eight: the first seven omote (forward) versions, as well as the 14th. Since number 7 and number 14 are both defenses against a double handed wrist grab from behind, this gives the set of eight a nice sort of symmetry.
That’s because the first two are against high level grabs from aigamae (matching stances) and gyakugamae (opposite stances), the second two are mid level grabs from aigamae and gyakugamae, and the third two are low level grabs from aigamae and gyakugamae. (The seventh and eighth are then both double landed wrist grabs from behind.)
Actually, though, calling them high level, mid level and low level grabs somewhat muddles things. What’s really happening is that after you are grabbed, you perform either high level balance breaking (where you raise the attacker up onto his toes), mid level balance breaking (pushing the uke sideways off balance), or low level balance breaking (where you push the attacker forward and down form his perspective to bend him over at the waste and break his posture).
If you’ve done Tomiki aikido, you’ll know these techniques since they appear on the 3rd kyu and 2nd kyu belt tests. But at Shodokan, they do them a LOT. With your first partner, you are given just enough time to do them twice each both left and right handed. Then you rotate to another partner, and do them twice each both left and right handed. As you go through them, alternate. That is, you grab my right wrist for the set of eight, then I grab your right wrist for the set of eight, and then you grab my left wrist for the set of eight, and then I grab your left wrist for the set of eight, etc.
And as I mentioned above, Nariyama Sensei will stop practice at various times and do this drill, as it gets everyone back in the spirit of blending with an attack and remembering that the first thing you always have to do is break the opponent’s balance. Only after that is accomplished should you attempt a technique.
Let me explain the drills in the order they are typically done at the beginning of class.
Tegatana Awase
Here, both people stand in matching stances (both people standing right-foot forward, for instance.) They then raise tegatana arms to match (right arm if the right foot is forward.) They touch tegatana blades, and then move smoothly around the dojo, using good sliding feet footwork, making sure to keep the same foot always forward, and never bending their tegatana arms. The whole point of the drill is to maintain proper distance as you move together.
Make sure you switch, and do a round both with the left leg and hand forward as well as the right leg and hand forward.
A variation of this drill is to do it without the arms. You start off touching arms to get the distance right, but then lower your arms and then move around, staying square to each other, and at proper distance.
Tegatana Bogyo
Bogyo means defense. In this drill, the two partners take turns being attacker and defender. They start as in tegatana awase and move around smoothly, but then one of them (pre-designated as the attacker) either raises the opposite arm to begin a strike or raises a leg to begin a kick. Since it is a drill, you don’t finish the strikes or kicks. Please note that it is the opposite arm that goes to strike. That is, if you are doing the tegatana awase with your right arm forward and touching your partner’s right arm, you will raise your left arm as if to strike.
For the person defending, as soon as he senses a strike coming, he pushes in with his stiff tegatana arm right towards the attacker’s throat. To aid in the drill, the attacker allows his tegatana arm to collapse at the elbow so that his own tegatana hand gets squished between own his throat (or upper chest) and the defender’s tegatana arm, which is of course pushing in at his throat. The point of the drill is to move in quickly and push the attacker off balance. It is, foremost, a timing drill, to teach you to react immediately when attacked. It also teaches you that the best first thing to do when attacked is to break your opponent’s balance.
As you do the drill, each person should make three attacks before switching attacker and defender. This is a nice alternation scheme, since you don’t spend too much time as either attacker or defender and you learn to move smoothly and be alert equally well in either role. Make sure you do both left and right sides.
Gassho no Bogyo
This drill is also sometimes called Gassho no renshu. A gassho is a pray position, with the palms pressed together. In this drill, you again work on your timing and moving smoothly and quickly when attacked. Here, the pre-designated attacker either goes for an overhead temple strike to the head (migi men or hidari men), or raises a knee as if to begin a kick.
If an overhead strike is initiated, the defender moves forward smoothly and raises up his tegatana arms in a gassho position, putting them hands right up near the attacker’s face. This will block the strike and get you used to moving towards an attacker—as paradoxically this is often the safest place to be.
If the attacker raises up a knee as if to strike, the defender blocks it by moving smoothly forward and putting out both tegatana to block the leg on the thigh, just above the knee. The key point here is to keep your back vertical and also to keep looking at the attacker’s face. Do not look at the leg! You should also end up pretty low, as to block properly, you have to extend a leg forward. This will naturally lower your center.
As you do this drill, you and the other person should be circling each other. This makes it much more natural, and well as much more challenging. The attacker should feel free to attack either right or left handed or right or left footed, alternating at will. Mixing it up this way makes it much more realistic for the defender.
Ippon no Bogyo
Ippon means one long cylindrical thing. In this case it refers to one arm. So this drill is the one-armed defense drill.
It is essentially the same as Gassho no Bogyo from the perspective of the person attacking. He or she either goes for hidari men or migi men (overhead temple strikes with the tegatana blade) or raises a knee up as if to go for a front snap kick.
As for the defender, he is now only allowed to block with one arm. For overhead strikes, he should meet them blade to blade, by which I mean that the blade side of his blocking tegatana arm (the pinkie finger side) should clash up against the blade side of the attacking tegatana arm. Also, he should move his whole body so that at the moment of contact, this blocking arm is right on his own center line. Between each block, the arms return to dangle loosely at the side. You should also be relaxed and well balanced as you await the next strike.
Now, if a kick comes, you have to again block it—but with only one tegatana blade this time (unlike in gassho no bogyo, where you blocked using both arms simultaneously). Block with the shote (base of the hand), with the thumb rotated so that it points back towards you. (The arm is extended as you block; it is still a tegatana.) You do not want to bock with the thumb side as you’ll quickly end up spraining or breaking a thumb. As with blocking kicks in Gassho no bogyo, keep your back straight and keep looking at the attacker’s eyes.
Circle each other as you do the drill.
Shote Awase
This is the drill where you push on each other using fully extended tegatana arms. I won’t describe it at much length as I’m sure you’ve done it before if you do Tomiki aikido. My only point will be to say that you shouldn’t be doing it very hard and that uke (the person being pushed backwards) should not fight the other person very hard. The uke should help by keeping both of their pushing hands in their mutual center and should give way reasonably, only mildly challenging the pusher. This allows the pusher to work on subtle balance breaking skills.
Ushio Kara Ryote Dori no Bogyo
This is the double handed wrist grab from behind drill, where uke grabs one of tori’s wrists using both of his own hands. The point is to grab and then push up and forward to break tori’s balance. Since you’ve probably already done this drill as well, I will only add that uke should definitely try to lift the arm, and that tori should get very good at suddenly dropping his weigh to break uke’s balance.
At Shodokan, they also start with the hand about six inches behind the buttocks, and the hand balled up into a fist. At the moment that uke grabs, you extend your fingers, form a tegatana, and drop your weight. Starting in a fist and then extending to a tegatana gets you in the habit of instantly going to tegatana no matter what position your hands are normally in. Put differently, you wouldn’t normally have your arm in a tegatana when grabbed. So this makes you practice having to initiate a tegatana immediately after being attacked.
Nana hon Nage Kuzushi Waza
These are the Seven Basic balance breaking drills. With ura (reverse) versions, there are 14 total. At Shodokan, they practice a set of eight: the first seven omote (forward) versions, as well as the 14th. Since number 7 and number 14 are both defenses against a double handed wrist grab from behind, this gives the set of eight a nice sort of symmetry.
That’s because the first two are against high level grabs from aigamae (matching stances) and gyakugamae (opposite stances), the second two are mid level grabs from aigamae and gyakugamae, and the third two are low level grabs from aigamae and gyakugamae. (The seventh and eighth are then both double landed wrist grabs from behind.)
Actually, though, calling them high level, mid level and low level grabs somewhat muddles things. What’s really happening is that after you are grabbed, you perform either high level balance breaking (where you raise the attacker up onto his toes), mid level balance breaking (pushing the uke sideways off balance), or low level balance breaking (where you push the attacker forward and down form his perspective to bend him over at the waste and break his posture).
If you’ve done Tomiki aikido, you’ll know these techniques since they appear on the 3rd kyu and 2nd kyu belt tests. But at Shodokan, they do them a LOT. With your first partner, you are given just enough time to do them twice each both left and right handed. Then you rotate to another partner, and do them twice each both left and right handed. As you go through them, alternate. That is, you grab my right wrist for the set of eight, then I grab your right wrist for the set of eight, and then you grab my left wrist for the set of eight, and then I grab your left wrist for the set of eight, etc.
And as I mentioned above, Nariyama Sensei will stop practice at various times and do this drill, as it gets everyone back in the spirit of blending with an attack and remembering that the first thing you always have to do is break the opponent’s balance. Only after that is accomplished should you attempt a technique.
